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Queer in Here: the Writing and Art of Queer and Trans Prisoners in the Making As Well, Which Will Be Compiled Under Stevie’S Guidance

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Queer in Here: the Writing and Art of Queer and Trans Prisoners in the Making As Well, Which Will Be Compiled Under Stevie’S Guidance 1 TRUE LEAP PRESS is a radical anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and anti-patriar- chy publishing collective based in Chicago, with active members in New York City and Los Angeles. The current open projects of the group are divided be- tween our publication of Black Studies and revolutionary abolitionist analysis and commentary, Propter Nos, edited by three members of the group, and a growing zines-to-prisoner distro ran by one member, under the mentorship of imprisoned abolitionist activists, organizers, writers, and artists around the country. We have been operative as a collective since the release of our journal in 2016. Contents: Updates … 2 Finances and Logistics … 9 Propter Nos … 12 2020 Zine Distro Catalog …15 Abolitionist Study: Stevie on Rustbelt Abolition Radio … 22 2 Updates Propter Nos, fourth issue in progress We’re happy to say things are moving steady for our collective, bringing two new members onboard and editing pieces for the fourth vol- ume of Propter Nos (PN), our periodical publication that brings together Black and revolutionary abolitionist theorists, creative writers, poets, art- ists, scholar activists, and grassroots community organizers. You can order your copy today, at no charge for imprisoned people. It was a push to steal time for this project between 2018 and 2019; however, the third issue of PN did make the rounds at several bookstores in Chicago. The publication was distributed at zine fests and non-academic conferences during the summer and has been circulating in prisons and a few jails around the country. PN is also included in the catalog of a few anarchist distros, with orders even made by groups in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, South Africa, and England. Confusion with the Process While we receive feedback and follow-up requested from so many readers, we are also not hearing back from a number of folks after their first or second letters. We are certain our materials aren’t uninteresting, and revolutionary literature is always needed and on demand in these gu- lags. This leaves us to presume that people locked up across the country are expecting a consistent stream of reading materials from us—a result of misunderstanding the process. Three issues in particular have been con- sistently brought to our attention, so please read carefully, and read eve- rything if you plan to collaborate in this process. First, a lot of people 3 assume we have a mailing list. While initially we planned on developing some kind of internal database, too many peoples’ addresses are in flux to manage. We therefore now only send our readership literature by request. Second, it is up to you to choose the selections from the catalog, and we will fill each request order-by-order. Once you finish the books or zines you’ve requested, please follow up again with another request. This year we are sending in three zines max per order, so when asking for materials please share three titles you are interested in and an additional three as back-ups. Another issue we are having is that word has gotten back to us that some mailrooms are not even informing our imprisoned readers that the literature is arriving. This tactic is called “non-distribution” and is a much more difficult tactic of censorship to maneuver. The third point to consider is that—in the best of chances—we hope people aren’t corre- sponding or requesting materials anymore because they have been re- leased from imprisonment. Political prisoner Stephen Wilson, interviewed Stephen (Stevie) Wilson, a member of our collective whose writing on study groups in prison appears in the last issue of PN, was recently in- terviewed by our friends Rustbelt Abolition Radio, who a member of ours had the pleasure of meeting at the Bend the Bars prison activist con- ference in Lansing last summer. We’ve included a copy of the interview in the closing pages of this catalog (page 20). Several friends, including Ste- vie, members of No New Jails NYC, and one of our editors are working on a new print publication, tentatively titled In the Belly, which will pri- marily feature imprisoned abolitionist artists, writers, theorists, and organ- izers, as well as news media on the prisoner movement from inside for people with loved ones locked up. The audience for the newsletter will be first and foremost the families, friends, and loved ones of prisoners. We imagine this project will be a tool for bringing more people directly 4 impacted by the prison industrial complex into movement work. Related to this project, there is an archival anthology called Queer in Here: the Writing and Art of Queer and Trans Prisoners in the making as well, which will be compiled under Stevie’s guidance. Sharky’s Testimony, Reflections on the 2018 Aug. 21st to Sep. 9th National Prison Strike Apparently four prisoners at New Folsom (California State Prison – Sacra- mento) ended up participating at some point during the span of the 2018 national prison strike. We spoke with the comrade Heriberto Sharky Garcia who went viral on Twitter for the duration of the strike, until large corporate media outlets began emailing us for more information forcing us to remove the video to minimize attention on our work—at the time. We spoke with Sharky about the strike’s af- termath and administrative backlash. He was reprimanded continuously from the strike to the very moments conducting this interview. We are currently trying to find Sharky some outside supporters that can offer solidarity on a campaign around visitation rights for family traveling long distances in California. He is in- carcerated in Northern California while his family is separated from him, residents of Compton/Long Beach area. Crystal, the love of his life, and their three kids would love to see him. Sharky has been incarcerated since 13. Sharky is part of our (not-always-the-most-stable but still-nonetheless-operative) mutual aid net- work. Sharky didn’t explain what forms of struggle the others engaged in, but did say one of them (who typically would be someone that works even during a “lock- down”) made the choice of refusing to work. Incredible feat. It takes a lot of cour- age to stand up in the jaws of unmediated state power. As is to my knowledge a recur- ring phenomenon in California prisons, another prisoner (the “next in line”) gladly took his job for the duration of the lockdown. Sharky noticed this is a recurring contradiction in the history of the work strike tactic. People are gladly willing to be scabs. During the strike, the guards fucked with everyone during the lock- downs. Especially with Sharky because he kept refusing trays. He said the harass- ment was strong and they stripped him and caged him multiple times. He lasted 15 days strong, but passed out on the 16th. He woke up in the Medical Center hooked up to a bunch of tubes and machines. 5 —excerpt from The Guardian (England) Sharky was later that day caught off guard by the administration; officials said he was to meet with the public information’s officer (PIO) only, but it turned out to be a set up: “disciplinary hearing.” The Lieutenant was there, the Capitan, the PIO, and the assistant warden also in the room. He said the admin’s biggest fear was that the whole yard would turn up and begin participating in the strike. They laid out a spread of documents, mostly news clippings (the articles about his action in the Guardian newspaper’s website [https://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2018/aug/23/prison-strike-us-canada-forced-labor-protest-activism]) and other info circulating Twitter about Sharky’s action. They had a whole file built in a matter of days, or something like that. The PIO interrogated him about how all these media outlets knew about his action, and how word spread so quick. He refused to say anything. Sharky did however tell them that he was on protest/strike in solidarity with the nationwide and then started asking the admin question re- garding what they knew about all of it, if they knew, and what they thought of it. They proceeded to read off the ten demands, then he replied after: “yeah… mhmm. I agree with all of those. AND I want to add a few specific to this prison: a) the unhealthy food has to be addressed, b) the medical neglect that goes on has to be addressed, c) the new folsom prisoners often aren’t allowed access to the law library to study cases, research etc. thus denied legal help.” He also brought up how there has been a lot of d) issues with visitation 6 rights being respected. Sharky also demanded a change to the J-Pay scam, where they take 55% or something like that. Didn’t fully catch what he was referring to. Went over my head. Finally, the IGI / ISU gang investigation unit came into his cell and took pictures of everything, from his tattoos, to his books, to his artwork. They said they are investigating him for “gang validation.” But Sharky knows this is all just because he’s an active organizer inside. The guards also tried to get the “big homies” to shut him up, but they didn’t. They tried to frame him to other prisoners saying he was making a scene. Sharky picked up a lot of game from his experience in this action and dealt with each level of the admin in their counterrevolutionary process. He saw the entire subsequent procedures of information and data collection, investigation, and backlash repression first hand, on all tiers of the administration.
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